Machine for making ornaments



- pril 7, 1925.

' 1,532,265 W. ROBlCl -(AUD MACHINE FOR MAKING ORNAMENTS Filed Jan. 16, 1917 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 6mm,

Apfil 7, 1925. 1,532,265

W. ROBICHAUD MACHINE FOR MAKING ORNAMENTS Filed Jan. 16, 1917 4 Sheds-Sheet 3 April 7, 1925.

W ROBICHAUD MACHINE FOR MAKING ORNAMENTS Filed Jan. 16, 1917 4 Sheets-Sheet" 4 it Patented Apr. 7, 1925.

, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER ROBICHAUD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y,, ASSIGNQR TO PAPER NOVELTY MFG. (30.,

OF NEW YORK, N. TL, CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

MACHINE FOR MAKING ORNAMENTS.

Application filed January 16, 1917. sel-m1 No. 142,621.

To aZZ whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, WALTER RomorrAUn, a citizen of the United States, residing at. New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Ornaments, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to machines for forming ornaments for Christmas trees and the like, particularly of the type embodying a strip of tinsel coiled. and interlooped about a central core or support.

Special objects of the invention are to provide for the ornamental shaping of thearticles, and further to enable the production of a variety of ornamental shapes. I

The invention aims moreover to provide such a machine which will be relatively simple and easy to operate and which will produce the work rapidly and inexpensively.

Briefly, the invention comprises in combination with means for coilingthe tinsel or other strip upon a mandrel along which the core is being fed, means for producing relative bodily movement of the mandrel and said coiling means, whereby to vary the coil ing action. The mandrel is usually shifted in respect to the coiling means and made tapering in form so as in its adva-nclng and retracting movements to produce 0011s on the core of gradually enlarging and decreas- 1 ng size.

Other features of the invention will. he made clear as the specification proceeds.

The accompanyingdrawings are illustrative of a practical embodiment of the invention but I would have it understood that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a side'elevation of a machine embodying the invention, with the winding or coiling head broken away and shown in section; Figure 2 is a top plan view of the machine; Figure 3 is a front end view of the mandrel and winding head, on an enlarged scale; Figure 4. is a side view of the same; Figures 5 and 6 are plan views illustrating the advancing and retractive movements of the mandrel and strand 18 as secondary or binder thread, the

first being led from the rear of the machine forwardly through a hollow mandrel 21, and the second being led around a feeding roller 22, at the forward end of the mandrel, where it is combined and intertwist'ed or wrapped about the first thread with the loops of tinsel therebetween. This intertwisting of the base and binder threads is accomplished by axially turning any approved form of take up, simultaneously with the tensioning pull upon the threads.

The tinsel, which may be supplied on spools 23, is carried by a coiling or winding head 24:, rotating concentrically about the mandrel. In the illustration four such spools are shown, engaged on spindles 25, which are mounted in brackets 26, one of eachpair of such brackets having a bearing 27 for-one end of a spindle and the companion bracket having an opening bearing or slot 28 in which the opposite end oithe spindle is detachably held by a spring clip 29. Also spring brakes 30 are shown, bcaring on the spools to control'the unwinding, and apply a certain amount of tension to the tinsel or other strand 15. The plural arrangement of spools shown provides a balanced construction and furthermore pro vides additional sources from which the tinsel may be drawn, as fast as it becomes exhausted in one spool. i

In the operation of the parts thus far de scribed, the winding head, in its rotation, wraps the tinsel or! other strand in coils upon the head of the mandrel, which is usually of tapered or pointed construction, such as shown, said coils passing about the primary or base thread 17, as indicated in Figure 4 and over the binder thread 18, the thus assembled product being fed along oil the the mandrel by the positively driven feed roll 22, and by suitable take-up mechanism (not shown).

The size and the position of the mandrel with respect to the coil forming and feeding-off mechanisms determine the size of the loops and hence the shape of the articles being produced and this principle is made use of in producing ornamental shapes of different configuration. In the construction illustrated the mandrel is made movable with respect to the coiling 'head and isadvanced and retracted in the feeding plane with a more or less gradual motion to correspondingly change the shape of the product on more or less gradual lines. The mandrel is accordingly shown carried by aslide 31, working on a guide 32, said slide being reciprocated by a cam 33. working against a roll 34 on the rocker 35, which rocker is connected with the slide by a link 86. A spring 37 is shown for causing the rocker to properly" follow the motion of the cam.

The cam shown in Figure 1 has two relatively gradual noses or cam shoulders, producing for each'revolution of the cam, through the connections described, two relatively gradual advancing and retracting movements of themandrel, which serve to produce the two figures there shown of symmetrical gradual swelling configuration. As these particular cam shoulders are not oppositely disposed but are both placed to one side of a centre line passing through the axis of the cam, the ornamental figures produced thereby will be spaced apart in pairs.

Figures 7 to 13 illustrate some of the different possibilities in the matter of ornamental shapes.

In Figures 7, 9. and 10, cams are shown having a single projection or cam shoulder 38, the shoulder in Figure Thaving a gradual rise on one side and an abrupt rise on the other side for producing the regularly spaced pear-shaped objects 39, the cam shoulder in Figure having agradual rise and being of symmetrical design to produce a flattened elliptical article 10, and the cam shoulder of Figure 10 being of symmetrical design bnt'having an abrupt rise to produce thesubstantially sphericalornaments 41.

In Figure 8 the cam is shown as a composite of the cams of Figures 7 and 10, having both the gradual and the abrupt shoulders for producing alternate pear-shaped and spherical objects.

Figure 11 illustrates a cam provided with two abrupt shoulders 12 of the same height and spaced closer together on. one side than on the other for producing spherical designs arranged in pairs.

Figures 12 and 13 illustrate'other possi bilities wherein shoulders 43, 44, 45, of dif- ,ferent height or extent are formed on a cam to produce ornaments 46, 47, 48, differing in size.

The machine illustrated is of double or twin construction, embodying two independent mechanisms mounted side by side in the same frame 49.

The several parts of the mechanism are driven by suitable means. In the present instance power is applied at to a main drive shaft 51, which through bevel gearing 52,,operates a shaft 53, connected by sprocket gearing 54, with a shaft carrying the spur gear which meshes with pinions 56 on the coiling heads. The drive shaft is further connected by sprocket gearing 57 with a counter shaft 58, which by a belt and pulley connection 59 operates a train of gears 60 driving the feed roll and by gearing 61 and other belt and pulley connection 62 operates the cam shaft 63.

The parts are so arranged that the mandrel works freely Within the rotating coiling head and the mandrel is preferably made readily removable from its actuating slide by securing it therein as by means of a. set screw 64. This construction also enables a certain amount of adjustment of the mandrel in respect to its actuating means. The cams also are preferably so constructed that the diflerent shapes may readily be substituted.

A special feature of the belt and pulley connections is that cone pulleys are employed, as indicated in Figures 1 and 2, by means of which the. required speed for the various parts may readily be obtained. This adjustment or regulation of speed also enables the production of different effects in the final product.

I claim:

1. In amachine of the character set forth, the combination of. a tapered mandrel, means for winding loop-forming material onto said mandrel, means for feeding the loops so formed oil the mandrel, and means for poriodically advancing and retracting the tapered mandrel in respect to the winding means to present zones of varying thickness to said winding means during the loop forming operation on the mandrel.

2. 'In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of a tapered mandrel, means for winding loop-forming material onto said mandrel, means for periodi :ally advancing and retracting the tapered mandrel in respect to t-he winding means to present Zones of increasing then decreasing thickness to said winding means during the loop forming operation on the mandrel.

3. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of a tapered mandrel. means for winding loop forming material. onto said mandrel, and means for shifting said tapered mandrel in respect to the winding means during the formation of loops on the mandrel.

4:. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of a tapered mandrel, means for winding loop-forming material onto said mandrel, said mandrel and said loop-forming means relatively movable longitudinally of each other during the formation of loops on said tapered mandrel.

5. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of a tapered mandrel, means for Winding loop-forming material onto said mandrel, and means for causing a periodic advancing and retracting movement between the mandrel and the Winding means during the formation of loops on said mandrel.

6. In a machine of the character set forth, the combination of a tapered mandrel, means for Winding loop-forming material onto said mandrel, and means for causing a periodic movement between the mandrel and the Winding means during the formation of loops on said mandrel.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WALTER ROBICHAUD. 

